Warnock cries foul over lucky escape by relegation rivals

Sheffield Utd 1

Watford 0

Half-time: 1-0

Attendance: 30,690

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)

Even a victory that puts his side within touching distance of safety cannot calm Neil Warnock. The victory Sheffield United salvaged from a desperate game lifted them three points and three places above the relegation zone, but that did not stop their manager attacking the Premier League over the penalty imposed on West Ham for breaching transfer regulations in the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

"If it had been Sheffield United, Watford or Wigan, there would have been points deducted," he said. "If I'm honest, I think everybody knows that. They've made a rod for their own backs. I feel sorry for my old club, Bury, getting kicked out of the FA Cup for making an honest mistake."

Bury were expelled from the competition after fielding a player who was cup-tied.

Otherwise, Warnock was in relaxed mood as, at 58, he contemplates a successful conclusion to his maiden top-flight season. Aidy Boothroyd is a more authentic rookie, but the very model of the modern flipchart manager will surely enjoy plenty more high-level campaigns, even if his relentless positivism has made him the Pollyanna of the Premiership.

This week he was even able to claim, tongue some distance from cheek, that being relegated three weeks from the end of the season was a positive because it gave him more time to prepare for the Championship. Warnock had no time for such exuberance. "This," he had said, "will not be a nice game. It will not be entertaining." He wasn't wrong. It was ugly, scrappy and largely shapeless. Sheffield United against Watford does not sound like a Premiership game, and yesterday it certainly did not look like one.

Even as early as the 13th minute when Keith Gillespie sliced a drive hilariously wide, it had become apparent that this was a game whose only hold on the attention was as a slice of cultish so-bad- it's-good kitsch.

Weirdly, it was Watford who seemed the more passionate, even if that manifested itself more as thuggishness than anything more constructive. If Gavin Mahon was a touch fortunate to see only a yellow card for an early lunge on Matthew Kilgallon, Clarke Carlisle practically had to win the lottery to still be on the field at half- time. Other referees than Martin Atkinson might have sent him off for kicking at the ball when it was clearly in Paddy Kenny's hands and, having been booked for that, he probably should have seen a straight red for an elbow on Jon Stead after 34 minutes.

As it was, Atkinson not merely decided the infringement was worth only a yellow, but showed it to Danny Shittu. Warnock's pre-match comment that "I don't get into trouble now because the referees are better at this level" suddenly began to seem like tempting fate.

A goal turned up eight minutes later, Michael Tonge's shot from the left deflecting past Ben Foster off Chris Powell. It was a lead United held, but not necessarily one they deserved. For United fans, a sense of anxiety endured until the final whistle, but the closest Watford got to an equaliser came after 65 minutes, when the tireless Marlon King lobbed against the bar. Warnock spoke of the benefit his side had in having expected to be struggling at this stage: merited or not, pessimism had the better of positivism yesterday.

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